


Undertow

by Refletsan



Series: Down Below [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, I don't know how to tag this, I have no idea if this fic will get explicit or not I'll just see what happens, Jakob's a pretty fishie mermaid, Mer!Jakob, Self-Insert, Slow Burn, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-07-12 09:36:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7097137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Refletsan/pseuds/Refletsan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>" Undertow - Another term for rip current, used in the incorrect belief that rip currents drag swimmers below the surface. "</p><p>He didn't like humans or his own kind, but she adores the ocean and everything about him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Silver Streams

**Author's Note:**

> Who doesn't like a good Mermaid AU? Or Merman here, I guess. So for the betterment of the viewer, this is what our dorky Jolie looks like; http://tinyurl.com/zp65zqy  
> So without further ado, I apologize for being self-insert trash.

It was a lovely day, sunlight shimmering through fluffy clouds and waves calmly lapping on the shore. The breeze blew gently as the colorful flowers and tree limbs danced in its embrace. A bay, of sorts and various corals, drifted along peacefully to this calm period after a storm. Why, if he had a say in it he'd probably at least mumble; this is the best it has ever been.

From what he'd seen anyway, he really didn't leave this one rock unless a ship passed by or a animal came around. But he'd seen many, many other places due to not staying in one ocean. The last lagoon he fled from had darker grass and a dense forest to match, this one was a land of few tropical trees and many bright fish. The calm air of this place put him at ease, maybe he wouldn't be hunted here; by human or his own kind.

He winced at the thought, at the scar across his shoulder. One would think mermaids were beautiful, stunning creatures that were easily harmless... A fairytale told to bubbly children who think the best of the world, bah! Having trust issues with your own race was nowhere close to stunning, it was terrifying. He couldn't look at any other mermaid without watching them carefully, almost more carefully than he stared at ridiculous humans. But, that didn't matter here.

After many close observations and scouting, he found no other mermaids who dared to get close to the shore like he did. No humane footprints scampered across the sandy shoreline, only curious animal paws or crabs searching for a home. He chuckled at the thought, he was rather similar to a crab. Grouchy, crabby even, and a nomad in his own form. Which made it delightful to him that this flat rock was the perfect sunbathing spot and place of rest.

\--

Speaking of bubbly, childish humans, one woman had a grin unlike any other on her face. Which was ironic, seeing as how miserable her life was going right now. Kicked out of her house, lost her job and had barely a pinch of penny. Deep down she was upset, not about herself but more about her brother. The same damned thing happened to him, and very spontaneously as well. It almost made her wonder if someone or something did this to them on purpose, or maybe it was just chance. Who knew? She sure as hell didn't.

And yet living on the streets was a cinch for them both. Her brother was weak but rather cute and harmless, he made a swift and perfect thief of coin. She on the other hand was brutal and quite frankly, scary. Not to mention the red hair and bright clothes, an eye sore. Not cut out for the stealthiest job, definitely not. So instead she was a master at poker and many other gambling games held on this island. She COULD make a fortune, but she could also get the snot beaten out of her over accusations of cheating... Which she in fact did sometimes.

Both were basically criminals, but they were friendly criminals. Friendly criminals with an eye for creativity and an eye for mythology. They both had their fair share of 'most likely not real creatures', her brother's favorite were monsters like the leviathan or maybe rumors like the Bermuda. But she had her eyes set on Mermaids of all things. Yes, she believed deep down without a doubt if she saw a mermaid she'd be the luckiest person in the world! Maybe her life would return to normal or maybe it'd get a little bit better, she hoped.

But hope couldn't feed a grumbling stomach, she was hungry. Hungry enough to take a chunk out of her brother's arm, but he wasn't out on a walk with her. He was out in the rich side of town, snatching money from poor suckers who wouldn't see it coming for miles. And... she spent the last of her cash on dinner last night. Bummer. She was broke, again. What the hell was she gonna do?!

Although she still hopped along the street with glee, that grin formed perfectly from jagged teeth beyond a dentist's repair. It was so very fake, and if someone asked her why she was so happy, her teeth would probably shatter from the intensity of her smile! Ah well, with great rage came some fringe of smarts. This island had trees and bushes that offered fruit, maybe if she walked down by the shore she'd find something!

\--

Well, that was a waste. Nothing. Nothing for miles of foliage. What good were 'fruit producing plants' if they couldn't even do their job correctly?! Then again, obviously she couldn't do her job correctly, getting fired and all that. She felt sympathy for the shrubbery, but still furrowed her brows at the fact she'd probably be starving this night.

Swiftly she made her way out of the thicket of shrubbery, loose vines of thorns snatched at her skin and caused her to fall to her knees in the soft embrace of salt and sand. Small cuts skittered across her flesh, the sand burning into the already painful stings. Tearless, she glared up at the sky. The sun was beginning to set, a once blue sky turned to a mixture of orange, pink and pale yellow, clouds smeared across the colors like a painting. Her brown eyes stared and stared, wishing that she could paint a picture like that... If she had the material, but hey! No money.

A shuddered laugh pried its way out, her losses outweighed her wins. But, all those losses seemed to fade away when she lowered her eyes down to a specific gray slab of stone. Someone was laying on it, on their stomach and resting their head on their arms. She couldn't make out a face, it was obscured by a mess of silver that person called a hairstyle. What a fashion disaster! She just might have to march over there and give them a lesson on hair etiquette! She rolled up her 'sleeves', mind you she's wearing a tank top, and kicked her feet through the sand as she walked over to them and--

Oh. My.

\--

He had drifted away into a sound slumber, the ocean waves were just so captivating and the leaves rustling? It was all a lullaby to his ears-- Fins? Things on the sides of his head? Even he wasn't too informed on his own body's biology. Didn't matter, he was knocked out cold in seconds.

Now, something he was aware of about himself was that his temperature was regularly chilly, that's why he loved the warmth of sunlight. But suddenly his shoulders felt too warm, way too warm... Steadily he peeked an eye open and threaded a gentle finger in his silver locks, brushing it out of the way like seaweed in the coral reefs. His violet eyes looked around, everything was normal; minus the suspicious trail of footprints decorating the sand all the way up to his precious stone. Then he felt the warmth again and a slight shake, what in the?!

"Good morning!"

"AGH!"

And with that he completely flipped and fell off the rock into the water with a painful sounding splash, dragging the pursuer to the edge who managed to firmly hold onto the flat rock. Her wonder-filled eyes stared deeply into the cold abyss, which was in actuality very shallow and child's play to a new swimmer. Then those eyes lit up when the man emerged from the water in fury, even that deadly look didn't shake the girl.

The mermaid- or merman in this case, latched his clawed hands onto the rock's side and climbed back up onto the flat surface, making the assumed human creature back away from him. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" he snarled, making sure to show his pointed teeth as he spoke, but that only seemed to make the thing scoot closer.

She grinned, stars practically sparkled in her eyes. "Hi."

What was wrong with this person?! Didn't they know he could easily snap their neck? Another growl arose from his throat, "Don't 'hi' me, who do you think you are?!"

"Oh!"

Suddenly hands with fingernails painted pink and blue with very alluring golden rings on some fingers reached out and grabbed his own hands, pulling them towards her. She leaned forward slightly and opened her grin quite happily to introduce herself, "I'm Jolie!" she giggled, gently she pushed his hands back to their owner, "What's your name?"

Ah, a human of abundant stupidity, joy. And she wasn't very interesting alike most humans, but he did find her jewelry quite lovely. It was golden after all, not to mention its glare in the sunlight. He hesitated, but her eyes looked on at him expectantly. Ugh, what was he getting himself into? And how would he get out of it? "...Jakob."

"What a lovely name," Jolie sighed, repeating his name in a low whisper so that she'd remember. She thought she was being quiet, but Jakob could hear her and he looked a little put off. Did this human have a few screws loose or something? Definitely a broken one and he did not want a replacement; instead, he wanted a refund.

Still, no meaningless compliment could erase his hatred for this one so far. "Is there any reason in particular why you woke me up or are you just going to stare at me like some creep," Jakob cruelly spat, his patience was running entirely too thin. And he absolutely hated being stared at.

"Well!" Oh boy, he was in for a ride. "At first I came over here cause I thought you were unconscious and I also wanted to yell at you for your poor hairstyle choices--"

"Excuse me?!"

"--But then I realized you weren't exactly human--"

"I realize you aren't either."

"So then I started inspecting you cause I've never seen a mermaid-- I mean, merman, before! Much less up close," Jolie could go on and on for hours about her excitement. Her heart was basically thrumming out of her chest, at least one of her dreams just came true! Those old, crudely drawn ink paintings of mermaids was never enough for her, and here she was holding the hands of one!...

Jakob rolled his eyes, "That's nice... Can I have my own damn hands back now?"

"Oh, right! Sorry," Jolie laughed nervously and let go of him, watching as Jakob automatically snatched his arms away and started hugging the stone beneath them. Violet eyes glared daggers at her, but Jolie still smiled enthusiastically at him, making Jakob physically flinch.

Then she started to move over and look at him more, eyes glued to his long tail halfway hidden in the water. It was shiny and silver much like his hair, and the silver colors faded into a dark purple on his fins. His ears that poked out from his long hair were the same color, silver and purple on the ends. Jolie started to move closer and it made Jakob heft himself up with his hands to shift away.

"What are you doing?!" Jakob tried to ward the girl off with venom-filled words rather than venom-filled bites. Humans were quite fragile to his knowledge. But Jolie kept stepping into his personal space and stretched out a hand. Jakob stilled as it pushed his hair aside, revealing more of his face and his neck. He flushed at her stare, he hated being watched or looked at or even making eye contact with people! "Keep your hands to yourself!" He spat again, the girl's stare stilled him to a point where he couldn't move and make her stop.

"Why do you wear your hair like this? You're very pretty," Jolie spoke softly rather than yelling to try and calm him down, she smiled upon seeing his shoulders sag slightly. Then his glare shot away and he started grumbling again.

"Maybe I don't want people to see me! Yes, that includes you!" Jakob began to move away from her so he could dive into the ocean and never come back, then she pointed at his neck, that same stupid glint in her eyes appearing once again. He felt the urge to vomit.

Jolie gaped, "So you do have gills! That's amazing how you can just stay out of water like this unlike fish, you're gonna have to tell me all about yourself!"

Jakob felt another blush coming on, at least she wasn't staring at his eyes anymore. "I'm not 'gonna' tell you anything, I'm not obligated to do so," he retorted, then in a lower tone he muttered; "It's not THAT interesting either."

"Sorry, can't hear you when you speak like that," Jolie jested, ignoring his childlike pouting and snarky remarks. She had a feeling if it were her brother who found Jakob instead, he'd be done with speaking to the merman in seconds. She chuckled fondly at the thought, her brother steaming with impatience and all. "You are very rude, Jakey"

He stared wide eyed at the girl. Jakey? Jakey? Why he oughta--! "Gee, you think so, Mrs. Obvious?! Most people bugger off with this much tongue-lashing!" Jakob could make names too! He'd challenge this lady to a battle of wits but it seemed she came unarmed, hah!

"You flatter me, but I'm not married."

Pardon? Jakob looked dumbfounded after his pointless jab at the girl, suddenly she seemed very silent. He didn't like it. He preferred her stupid shouting over this sudden silence, did he hit a nerve? "What? Then why do you wear so many rings?" Jakob was exaggerating, she only had about three. But that's more rings than he'd ever seen on a human hand, and suddenly he found himself grabbing said hands, his violet hues looking them over. "I thought when humans got married they wore rings, what do these rings mean?"

"Well, one of em's my mum's engagement ring, the other is my brother's ring and the last is just one I managed to buy when I had money," Jolie's words didn't bore or upset him this time, Jakob was genuinely curious, or concerned. He leaned closer when she started to speak again, "They're meaningless I guess, two of them is just me bound to them when we're separate and the last ring I could just throw away, or sell..."

Jakob snorted at the last part, why throw away your treasures? Especially a ring. He liked rings, they were shiny and neat... Hey! He was supposed to be mature and not childish, why was he being so captivated by pieces of gold?!

"Hey, Jakob, I have a question."

And suddenly he was dragged out of his apparently silent scolding of himself. He didn't wince or cringe at her this time, instead he spoke normally. "What is it?"

"Would you like this ring? Can we be friends? Think of this ring like we're bound even when separate, just like my mother, brother and I..."

Then Jolie gently took her hands away from him and pulled the ring off her finger, holding it out to Jakob with a grin. Finally she was smiling, and it sort of warmed his heart to see it. Jakob looked at her then the ring, then back at her then the ring again. This piece of gold meant they were friends? Friends... The first friend he'd have.

Jakob wordlessly reached out and took the ring, slipping it on his index finger. It was a perfect fit and it barely slipped off, for that he smiled for once, too. His violet eyes looked back at Jolie's brown, not shying away this time.

"Thank you, friend."


	2. About You; About Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You want to know the world, and the world wants to know you.

Her stomach had given her secrets away, Jolie was starving throughout this entire meeting and Jakob managed to catch on with the twitch of an ear. Her stomach could do a spot-on whale impression! He even compared the growl to a whale's cry as an insult and Jolie, unbeknownst of his snide remarks, actually agreed with him. In short words Jolie explained that no money means no food and no food means death for the redhead. Speaking of which, she also informed him of her natural hair color, brown!... But didn't inform him that it was dyed. Now Jakob is wondering if human hair just suddenly changes colors with no warning.

So they made a deal, Jakob swam away to catch fish for them both and Jolie leapt from the stone to begin gathering firewood to build a fire. The sunlight was beginning to dip below the horizon, as if the expansive ocean were going to swallow it whole. Along with the sun's embrace went warmth, Jolie may not only starve, but also freeze to death. Thankfully, she brought a backpack with her that apparently had a sleeping bag in it, whatever those things are. Jakob didn't question it, she seemed delighted about it, so he trusted the bag of sleep. Sleeping...bag...thing...

Jakob's job was among the easiest of tasks that he could perform. He ate fish just about every day, this challenge was a breeze! Suddenly, the water shot up from the ocean, Jakob following the water onto his flat stone. The merman dropped two fish, both cut at the throat to cease their movement. It seemed a little overdone, but he had too many past experiences of dinner escaping. His ears twitched, something was applauding him? Quickly his eyes darted around, finding Jolie on the shore clapping in a tiny round of applause for his impressive show... He squinted at her, what an odd human, he thought. Although it made him feel prideful of the work he'd done, perhaps a little too prideful?

Choosing to ignore her abnormal actions, he flopped down onto the stone and held his head up with a hand. "So, how do you cook a fish, exactly?" Jakob asked out of curiosity, wide eyes stared in disbelief when she flicked something called a lighter and the dried wood was set aflame. He kept watching closely as she placed leaves into the fiery light. Jolie then held her hands out to the fire, likewise warming herself up. The fire looked warm and inviting, much alike the sun. Something inside of him wished she made the fire up here rather than down there.

"I'll show you," she suddenly answered, before he knew it Jolie had got up from her seat in the sand and began to tread through the slow tides to him. Jakob automatically held out one of the fish to her, making sure she actually had a grip on it before retreating back to himself. Then the girl retraced her steps and sat back down in the sand, feeling around for a spare stick.

Holding the sharp piece of wood, she winked an eye as she aimed the thin stake, "I just skewer the fish with this and..." Pluck! A piece of wood now adorned with freshly killed fish twirled over the fire, "Tah-dah! Cooking a fish."

Jakob's eyebrows remained furrowed, how did cooking change it any? Then a new scent wavered in the air, much different from how fish usually smell, far more pleasant that's for sure. So it smelled differently, would it taste differently? Jakob wondered about the taste, would it taste as wonderful as it smelled? Or maybe it tasted better?! He seemed to have forgotten himself as a thin line of drool ran from the corner of his mouth, and Jolie managed to catch the sight. Her goofy laughter knocked him back to reality, a warmth flushing his cheeks as Jakob nervously wiped the drool away. "T-that's weird! I just eat them raw," Jakob purred, intending to sound hurtful, but failed.

Jolie had a wide grin across her face, he was so cute! "But I'll get a disease if I eat a fish raw!" Ah, memories of food poisoning passed by her. Good times!... "Enjoy your meal, Jakob."

Something of a stone sunk in his stomach, he had just finished said meal. "Well, it tasted delicious?" Jakob shrugged nonchalantly, he had picked great fish for dining!-- 

"Seriously?! Don't you know it's rude to eat before others?" Jolie chided like a mother, for the first time a scolding look accompanied the lively human's face. Jakob felt his tail sink deeper into the water, those eyes were so sharp that it felt like her stare was clawing at him!... Or maybe he was just feeling guilty? Jakob offered a mumbled apology for his actions, and Jolie instantly returned to her warm smile. She forgave him!

\--

In short time, Jolie finished cooking the fish and devoured it even faster. Surprise stung the merman, how could a human just eat like a ravenous creature?! Weren't they supposed to be 'civilized' and polite? Jakob started to compare her eating speed to his own, which was incredibly fast mind you; even when he wasn't starving!

By the time their dinner was over, the sun had fully dipped beneath the horizon. Moonlight now dusted the pair; a cold chill ran up Jakob's back, night was never pleasant with its greetings. How did Jolie just move around undisturbed in this type of weather? He kept staring and staring as she threw water on the fire to make it go out, then watched as she laid back down in the sand again. Jolie was leaning back to stare up at the stars, which inspired Jakob to mimic her and look up as well. The sky was similar to the ocean, endless, beautiful and extremely cold. Jakob shuddered at the thought, wasn't there a place where it stayed warm always?

Jolie snorted at Jakob, obviously he was lost in thought again. She glanced back up at the moon, its position in the sky made her wonder, what time was it? She didn't wear a watch, and her phone was both dead and put away in her backpack. She really wasn't built for wilderness survival... "Hm, I think it's time for our sleepover," Jolie concluded, but in actuality guessed. She felt tired, so maybe Jakob felt tired too? The girl stood up and on her feet and stumbled over to her backpack, nearly falling over to avoid a piece of driftwood. 

Jakob caught himself staring at her again, humans did so many weird things that his kind did not. As she dug around in her backpack, Jakob began to come up with more questions. "What is a sleepover?" he asked; he could've sworn he heard Jolie mutter something under her breath about keeping a tally on his questions.

"It's exactly what it sounds like, silly!" Jolie's answer was extremely vague to Jakob, until she came running up to the stone with her backpack. Suddenly it was tossed at him and, forcing him to sit up and catch it. He almost started to complain, but stopped when Jolie started patting the top of the stone, struggling to get a grip. Jakob rolled his eyes at how pathetic humans were, how did they survive like this? He placed the weird backpack down beside him and slithered over to the edge, hands reaching out for Jolie, then stopped... There was something that explained her struggles.

"You're a very short human," he blurted out loud, beforehand he really didn't note anything about her. The only things he noticed was her bright red hair and teeth so similar to a shark's. Now that he paid attention, Jakob noticed Jolie was extremely short and tinier than him. Most humans were kind of tall from what he's seen before, but she was so short! 

He shook his head; grabbing Jolie's hands, he pulled her up onto the rock. For that she offered a breathless thank you for his assistance, she also muttered something about being really out of shape, whatever that meant. Was she a shape? She looked kind of like a skinny rectangle, was she supposed to be another shape and was therefor 'out of shape'? These are the real questions he should be asking. Why, he was so deep in thought that he didn't notice Jolie had moved over to her backpack and was laying out the alleged sleeping bag. "A sleepover is basically me sleeping over here, two buddies hanging out and...stuff."

"And stuff?" Jakob looked befuddled, what kind of stuff?

"Yea, and stuff!"

Yea, that explains everything, Jakob looked downright annoyed. Jolie's own curiosity started to show, her familiar, noisy voice chiming back in, "Hey, I answered all your questions so far, can I ask you something?"

"Sure..." Jakob yawned, growing legitimately tired, too tired to be relatively snappy with her. He folded his arms like he did before and rested his chin on them, violet eyes staring up at the lady.

"Are the others like you? I mean, the other mermaids and mermen, are they nice?"

"No, they aren't. And I am not nice!"

Jolie paused, as if that answer should shock her any. Of course a mythological species would be hostile. "What are they like? And you are too nice!"

Jakob growled in frustration, Jolie's giggling infuriated him so. A blush ran over his cheeks at the word, 'nice'. He wasn't nice. "Everyone varies really, some of us eat fish, some of us eat humans and some of us..." Jakob glanced away, his voice dying out as Jolie scooted closer in unknowing foolishness. He started to turn away to hide something, violet eyes had a fringe of fright among them. He hated to speak of it, hated it more so to think of it. "Eat each other..."

Thankfully his lengthy silver hair hid the giant scar on his left shoulder. He absolutely disliked talking about it, it gave him chills just looking at it. He even felt a shudder itch up his tail's fin all the way up his spine. He swallowed his inner fears, continuing on, "Most of us are nomadic, no one stays in one place for too long. Personality varies..."

It appeared Jolie caught on to his unease, "So you're all just as unique as humans?"

Jakob supposed, he never got to know other humans. Jolie was the first to encounter him without a knife in hand. The only answer he could offer was a hesitant nod. 

"What were all the other places you've been to like?" 

That question struck a stream of memories, Jakob's ears perked up in excitement. He loved talking about where he's been! Although he's never really talked to anyone about it... "My last home was a dark lagoon with greener grass and trees to match, a lot of flowers grew around the water. The one before that was much more rocky with vines wrapped across all of them. When I was really young, I used to live deep down in the ocean where it was dark and hard to see. I didn't like it," Jakob kept going on and on, finding himself unable to stop much like Jolie earlier, "Thankfully my parents abandoned me one day, leaving me to travel where I saw fit. I aimed for places where the sun shined brightest..." Jakob paused for a moment, feeling that the question was answered. Then another comment came out on its own, "I like the sun, it feels warm..."

Jolie was grinning again, thoroughly amused by how excited Jakob was to tell his own stories. Even though that last part sounded a bit off, what kind of parents just abandon their child?! A fringe of outrage wanted her to ask about that too, but she held her tongue. What if it triggered some awful memory? Something already caught the poor guy off guard, she wouldn't touch on that subject either... "Are you always cold, Jakob?" she quizzed, shifting where she wasn't sitting cross legged anymore, her legs were falling asleep!

"Most of the time, yes. That's why I sunbathe constantly," Jakob replied, not mentioning that he usually slept underwater, where it was warmer at night. Likewise he'd be sleeping up here to make sure nothing came by to attack the girl. He huffed, "Are humans always warm?"

Jolie couldn't stop smiling no matter how hard she tried, his curiosity was so innocent... It was a good thing he couldn't hear her thoughts, else he'd probably knock her flat with his tail. "Not all the time. Sometimes we can be cold, if we get too cold we get sick. And if we get too hot we still get sick!"

Jakob flinched, too much warmth can make you sick?! Impossible! That must be a human only thing, it has to be! "That sounds terrible."

"It is! But I'm always lukewarm, dunno why," Jolie shrugged with a smirk, now that she knew about his condition, she could offer some help. "Hey, next time I'll make the fire up here so you'll be warm, how does that sound?" 

Next time? She plans to come here regularly? Oh bother... Jakob guessed that's what it meant to be friends with someone. It probably wouldn't be so bad... He wouldn't mind being near fire either, the one she previously made looked very inviting. "If you could, that'd be nice," Jakob admitted finally, looking forward to the future.

Jolie snickered at the practical stars in his eyes, he got excited about things a lot didn't he? At least he was trying to hide it, failing miserably at doing so, but it's the thought that counts. Making a fire later didn't help him now though, which is why Jolie suddenly started digging through her backpack again. "If you want to borrow it, I have a blanket that'll keep you warm for tonight."

Jakob looked, ironically, blank. He tilted his head to the right, "What is a blanket?"

Suddenly Jolie was wrestling a mass of blue fluff out of her backpack, troubling Jakob when she started to wobble on the edge of the rock. Scrambling to get over to her, Jakob grabbed her arm and firmly held on as she conquered the blue fluff in combat. "This is a blanket. It's all warm and cuddly," Jolie snuggled her face in the blanket, then Jakob was shoved away when she pushed the blanket over to him, "Here you go!"

He wanted to fuss and spit at her, but found that the blanket silenced him, literally. It felt so weird, nothing at all like water! She was right, it was in fact warm and cuddly... He looked over at her and saw the massive grin on her face. She's... such an idiot...

"Well?" Jolie prompted him, wondering whether he liked it or not. From Jakob's sudden shift of expressions, he wouldn't doubt it was difficult to read his thoughts. When Jakob didn't respond right away, Jolie's shoulders eased and she started to hold her head up with her knee, "That's okay, take your time to explore--"

"Explore?!" Jakob sneered, was she referencing him, a merman, exploring human product? Well, he was! But he was also offended! Maybe... Who knew? The blanket seemingly erased his ailment of being a hothead. He even started to remove his tail from the cold water and into the blanket, but he stopped himself. Goodness, Jakob, where's your dignity at?

"I like it a lot."

Jolie clapped her hands together in success, "I knew you would!" She was practically rocking back and forth with glee, which Jakob noted as being really weird, to think he'd be used to Jolie's oddness by now.

Then everything quieted down, a dead silence falling among the pair. Jakob seemed content in the den of blue fur he made, Jolie continued to stare off at the stars above. Tonight was so lovely, to think she would've missed it if she hadn't ran into him. For the umpteenth time today a smile was painted across her face, friends with a merman! No one will believe her...

"Hey, Jake, do you have any other questions?--" Jolie started to talk again, then her brown eyes looked down to see Jakob knocked out asleep. She wanted to laugh, yep, that blanket was notorious for making people fall asleep. She didn't think it'd work on him though, hm... That's a shame too, she really wanted to talk more and share their stories. There's always tomorrow though, and the next day. Besides, Jakob looked really worn out before this whole sleepover, likewise he needed his rest. Jolie needed hers...

In a tiny whisper she offered a sweet 'Good night' to her soon snoring companion, which she wanted to laugh at too! Ah well, she has all the hours of tomorrow to pick on him.


	3. And They Come Unstuck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's this movie I think you'll like,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> before i start this i'll be introducing a new character, joel! He's the older twin of Jolie, and here's what he looks like; http://sta.sh/0t4ilp4znvs  
> probably the last mu you'll see for a while haha, sorry for being a nuisance!  
> anyhow, prepare for fluffy junk! I'm going to try and focus a bit on jolie's perspective someday.

The door swung open with a welcoming jingle, an instant aroma of coffee beans and freshly baked sweets tickled her nose. Morning jogs were definitely not the greatest thing, but catching her brother required getting up early. Jolie’s eyes scanned the small corner store as the door swung closed behind her. She offered her usual greeting to the employees behind the counter, a small wave and friendly grin. Her eyes continued to glance over heads, until they landed upon a familiar redheaded loser in a corner booth.

“Joel! I was hoping to find you here,” Jolie called out more loudly than intentioned, soon shushed by previously mentioned employees.

Joel lifted his head up, confusion adorned his face until he realized just who was talking to him. A smile appeared as Jolie ducked her head and put on a nervous display of avoiding people’s stares, his sister was a walking catastrophe. He didn’t speak until she sat down beside him, her grin trying desperately to ignore the flustered aura about her. He tried to stifle it, he really did, Joel just couldn’t help but chuckle at what she just pulled off.

“I was worried sick about you! Where were you last night?” Joel stuttered through laughter, the scowl Jolie gave off only made his giggling worse!

Ah, but that caught her off guard. She ran off after Jakob woke up, Jolie waited to tell him where she was going; that’s how she ended up in this place. On the way here, she did not think of what to tell her brother. She couldn’t just say she befriended a fish man! No one would believe her! “ I fell asleep in a hammock out by the beach, big whoop.”

Joel was not satisfied with that answer, at all. “Seriously? Don’t lie to me, please.” The older twin’s stare struck her dead every time! Jolie panicked inside her head; thankfully Joel was beginning to order coffee and a sandwich for her while she came up with a reply.

“I just stayed at a friend’s house last night,” Jolie wasn’t being completely truthful, but it was mostly true! Come to think of it, Jakob didn’t actually have a home did he?

“Oh yeah, which friend?”

“Why does it matter?! I’m okay!”

Joel squinted at his sister, something wasn’t right here. She was hiding something from him and he had to know what… But was it really his business? Shouldn’t he just respect his sister’s privacy?

Joel let out an annoyed sigh, the internal guilt was just a bit too much for him. “Alright, I believe you--”

“Actually, they’re a new friend…”

Huh? She never gave up on being stubborn so easily! Joel wouldn’t lose his chance to talk about this elusive topic, “Oh? Tell me about ‘em.”

“Only if I can borrow your charger, my phone’s dead.”

“Fine! Hand your phone over.”

Jolie soon got her coffee and ‘breakfast’, is a sandwich even considered breakfast? Whatever, food was food to her. After taking a sip of the bitter coffee, Jolie started to talk. “His name’s Jakob, I’m not really too sure how old he is, but he looks to be around our age. He lives out by the ocean, has silver hair and really pretty, violet eyes…”

Joel was leaning over on his hand, trying to think of a familiar face that he may have met to connect this description to. But no one came to mind… “Sounds like you’re just admiring the view of this guy. Pretty eyes and all that?”

“You do it too!” Jolie barked back in defense, making Joel snicker at her flushed aggression. “Anyways, he was nice enough to get me dinner, so I didn’t starve last night.”

Joel ‘ooo’ed at that, what was his little sister up too? A sly tone decorated his next witty comment, “Sounds fancy! What’d you eat?”

Jolie offered an annoyed glare, “The point is I ate something and he seems like a nice person,” Jolie remembered why she liked adventuring off without Joel now, he was a nuisance in his own form. Yet she still tolerated him to some degrees, “Now I’m hungry, so you talk about your life now.”

They chatted for a while longer, worried about their fundings and how they were going to survive like this. Jolie insisted they were doing just fine, Joel bickered about possible mishaps or expenses they couldn’t cover later. How could she just be so laid-back about this whole ordeal? Joel wished he could have that mentality as well, but he was also glad that he didn’t. If both the twins were irresponsible, then who would take care of everything?

Eventually his sister’s phone had finished charging, which meant she’d be leaving soon. They had no type of phone service, they couldn’t afford it. They didn’t even have an apartment or rented place to call a home! Normally Joel wasn’t so comfortable with neither of them being able to communicate, but his sister seemed to be alright without him… Nonetheless, his motherly instincts did get the best of him, and he insisted on buying her a snack for later. Jolie was delighted by the idea! She even asked if Joel could buy something for Jakob too, and Joel agreed. He even offered some pocket money for his sister, just in case.

If she needed him, Jolie knew where to find him; a lonely, old coffee shop on the street corner.

 

\--

 

“What is that?”

“Sweet tea, try it!”

The usual routine kicked into gear, an easily excited human enlightening an annoyed merman. He wrinkled his nose at the strange bottle filled with brown liquid, why would she draw his attention to something so gross looking? Jakob shook his head, and physically turned his nose up at it, resulting in Jolie to huff.

Jolie pouted and puffed a cheek, “Fine, I’ll try it first and show ya that it won’t kill ya!” As she said that, Jolie began to unscrew the cap of the bottle, making Jakob jolt up from his strange crouched position. “Woah, what’s the matter?!” Jolie exclaimed, taken aback by how fast his movements were.

“Don’t drink it! The only times when water is brown is when it’s poisoned,” Jakob warned, acting as if he knew everything, and clearly did not. Jolie’s face reflected this fact as she grinned at him, Jakob snarled in worry, “I’m serious! Don’t make that face!”

Jolie stuck her tongue out at him, “Normally, ya. But this is tea! It’s literally just leaf water, except this kind is cold with lots of sugar.”

“Sugar?! That definitely sounds poisonous!” Jakob started to get even more panicky by the second. He really didn’t want Jolie to drop dead from drinking leaf water, huh? As if she would! Jakob was delusional, but Jolie supposed she couldn’t blame him, tea was a human thing, not a fish thing.

Rather than soothing his nerves, Jolie immediately started to drink the ‘poison’ and showed no signs of death, she seemed healthy. Jakob was too busy clenching his hands into fists so hard that it dug crescents into his palms, she’s going to die! Even if it weren’t poison, she’s probably going to choke on it and die! Humans don’t have gills! Death by drowning in false poison!

“See? I’m fine.”

“Ugh, please don’t do that anymore!” Jolie only started to cackle from the merman’s passionate ranting, since when did he care so much?!

The girl wiped her lips on the back of her hand and offered the plastic bottle to Jakob, “Wanna give it a try?--”

If anymore of a furious glint could appear in the man’s eyes, Jolie thought Jakob may develop a whole new eye color. “NO! Of course I don’t!” Jakob folded his arms and coiled his tail, purple eyes tried to glare at the girl, but her saddened frown weakened his stare's intensity.

“Aw! You know, there’s this human phrase,” Jolie suddenly laid down on the spiral of silver and violet, making Jakob’s ears flatten due to her sudden closeness. Was she using him as a lounge or something? She was definitely using his tail as a pillow and propping one of her legs up on her other leg’s knee, utterly relaxed. Jakob had a strong urge to shove her over into the water, but another strong urge liked Jolie near him.

“The phrase goes; ‘Don’t knock it till you try it’,” Jolie explained, brown hues glanced up to make sure he was actually paying attention. Jakob was, albeit his eyes were more focused on how she was using him as a damn bed. She snorted, “Basically, it means you shouldn’t hate something till you give it a try. People who hate everything without trying it first are called picky. I’m kinda picky, but at least I give stuff a try!”

“What’s this supposed to mean to me?” Jakob sneered, now poking the girl in the shoulder to see if she’d budge. Unfortunately, Jolie probably found glue somewhere and was now stuck to the unfortunate soul.

Jolie chuffed hot air like a tea kettle at the merman, Jakob reminded her of a stubborn kindergartner. The thought forced a smirk as she tried once more to offer the bottle to him again, “It means you should try this the tea! Maybe you’ll like it, maybe you won’t, but trying new things is fun!”

The merman’s eyebrows remained furrowed while he continued to stare down at her. Eventually, Jakob breathed in sharply and his shoulders sagged as he admitted defeat, his tailfin budged as if waving a white flag to surrender. If he didn’t try it, Jolie’s feelings might be hurt; he didn’t want to do that to her.

So, Jakob took the bottle and curiously shut one eye to peek inside. Nothing but a small expanse of brown, which appeared almost amber with sunlight reflecting off it. He tried to scent it, but it was very difficult to smell anything over the salty ocean. He could definitely make out Jolie's scent from the plastic contraption. Steadily he mimicked what Jolie had done earlier, and drank a small portion of it.

“Well?” Jolie’s voice curled around his ears, that pint of excitement all too prevalent in the dip of her voice. “What do you think, awful? Great?”

He felt sort of embarrassed to admit it, but... “Can I have the rest of it, please?”

 

With that, Jolie managed to discover a love for tea in the merman. Soon after he asked for the bottle, he asked her if there were different types of tea. Jolie named off all the variants she could think while using her fingers to count, Jakob was surprised to hear that so many teas existed! Then he asked if she could bring more... Jolie couldn't resist the stars in his eyes; she promised that she could try.

Time passed smoothly along the hours of this day, the ocean's waves crashed against the shoreline in a rhythm. Occasionally huge waves came along and threatened to drown the pair and their small, makeshift island. Jakob would suddenly grip her arm just in case the ocean stole her from him. He didn’t know if Jolie could stay afloat in open water or not, but he wouldn’t take any chances.

“Jakob! I can swim, ya’know,” Jolie giggled as she was pulled to Jakob's side while water splashed onto the pair.

He ignored the ocean’s clutch, being well accustomed to its frenzied grip. His silver tail protectively formed a circle around where the small woman sat, “But you don’t want to get caught in an undertow do you? Those are dangerous, even to my own kind.”

Jolie tilted her head in curiosity, why was he being so protective of her suddenly? Undertows? Jolie wasn't aware of those being frequent in these parts of the water. She knew of an undertow, but she’d never been caught in one. Apparently being dragged underwater was dangerous for a creature with gills? So many curious thoughts threaded through her internal monologue, but only one blurted out. “Have you been caught in one before?”

Jakob hesitated… “No, I haven't, thankfully, but fishermen have tried to catch me,” Jakob tried to take a jab at jokes to flip the subject away, and it worked! She laughed… Did he like her laugh? Maybe, just a little. “They mistook me for a giant shark and wanted me to go away because I was disturbing the fish…”

“Hah! Did they figure out you were a merman eventually?” Jolie chuckled, now sitting in a new position with her chin up propped up on her knee. She liked it when he talked about his life, it seemed so alive and adventurous! Even if some of his stories were more troublesome than others, Jolie felt a connection of sorts. Her life was pretty much turned upside down, perhaps they could relate?

“I think I swam away too fast for them to think on it,” Jakob shrugged with a nervous smile, not knowing the end of this story. Nonetheless, Jolie clapped her hands together lightly in amusement. She's such a goofball...

 

Before they knew it, the daylight passed as quickly as yesterday, the sun’s kind embrace was replaced by the moon’s gentle kisses. Just as she promised, Jolie had made a fire on their stone platform for Jakob to enjoy since he was naturally cold all the time.

Jolie laid against Jakob's tail as she prodded the small flame with a piece of driftwood. By now Jakob was used to the fact he was a resting place for the little lady, instead of complaining, he held out his hands to the fire. The instant warmth that accompanied his fingertips excited him, is this what he’d been missing out on? He turned with a wide smile on his face to talk to her about the fire. 

"So do humans build these often? They feel so nice!" Jakob asked, a wide smile painted across his pale face.

Jolie then threw the last piece of wood she had into the fire, and began to prepare the fish Jakob had caught for the pair. She also promised to let him try cooked fish! Internally she doubted that Jakob would actually like it, Jolie wouldn't eat this if she had a choice. Alas, college drained her of money and her previous job didn't even pay close to minimum wage. "During the winter, maybe," Jolie replied, going about the previous routine of sticking a fish and holding it over the fire, "I'm glad you like the fire so much!"

The merman didn't respond, only a childish nod was given in reply. Then he repeated an action he saw Jolie do yesterday, he rubbed his hands together. It seemed to generate a little heat, especially over a fire! Why hadn't Jakob been doing this sooner? Not to mention the redhead was also watching him and had a gentle smile.

"What?" That was the one cold word that had rolled off Jakob's tongue in a while, and it stung Jolie like an icicle.

She looked as if she'd been woken up from deep rest suddenly, "Oh! Nothing, I was just thinking to myself," Jolie chuckled, grinding her teeth together in attempt to put on a straight face. She can't just keep calling him adorable all the time, out loud at that! But it was true... "Would you like to cook your fish, or do you want me to do it for you?"

Jakob's ears flattened as his hands automatically reached for the fish Jolie had prepared for him. He didn't have much faith in himself to mimic Jolie this time, fire was also dangerous! He'd seen a forest fire or two in his lifetime, thank goodness he was bound to the ocean! "Uh..." sounds fell from his lips as he couldn't make a decision, "Um, can you show me how?"

"Of course! Watch," suddenly a hand much tinier than his own carefully took his wrist and another hand gave him said skewered fish. "There's really nothing to it, you just have to be careful to not burn yourself or the stick!"

"Right..." Jakob unconsciously mumbled, watching as Jolie moved his arm where he now held the fish over the flame. That same enticing aroma of cooking fish wafted over to his nostrils. It smelled so good! The same thought of wondering if it tasted as wonderful as it smelled came to mind. What if it was awful? What if it made him sick? What was that saying Jolie told him about?...

Jolie made an unsure sound after Jakob's expansive silence, "Hm... Well, if you don't like the fish, you don't have to eat it. Hell, I don't even like fish in the first place!" Maybe he wasn't even conflicted and was just really honed in on cooking all of a sudden. Jolie couldn't tell, Jakob was like a book with pictures, but no words. Just really confusing pictures that look like they were printed in black, white, and to top it all off, bad quality. His bad qualities caught her attention in a good way, though.

The reply she got in return stunned her in actuality! Jakob tilted his head to look down at the girl, and was wearing a precious smile, Jolie could've sworn she counted two stars in his eyes. Was she going blind? "Well, humans say to 'not knock it till you try it', right?"

Jolie's jaw hung open slightly, any words she tried to speak only came out as slurred sounds.

"Erm, Jolie... Your fish is on fire..."

"Yea, just like my life-- HOT! HOT!"

Thankfully, no cooked fishes were harmed that night, and the two ate dinner together while chatting over their lives once again. Now it was Jakob's turn to ask, what was a human's life like? And listening to Jolie chatter had never been so interesting! She explained the cities, the bright lights, the people and so many other things! How humans had pets to take care of, some had natural talents and others enjoyed simply sitting outside on a sunny day! 

She then took out a strange rectangular object called a 'phone' and tapped it a few times. Jakob watched in wonder as pictures flashed by and Jolie busily looked for something to show him. Eventually she stopped on certain pictures, calling things a "cafe" or something called a "bus stop", Jolie said she'd been to almost every place on the island. Then she stopped on one particular photo, two redheads grinning and doing silly signs with their hands. They looked very happy!

Jakob reached forward and tapped the phone's screen, "Who's that?"

"Oh! That's my brother, his name is Joel," she laughed, flipping by more photos of the two. They had the same exact grin, sharp and accompanied by a baby face. "This was when we graduated from college! Man, it feels like it wasn't so long ago..."

"What are you two doing with your hands in that one picture?" Jakob asked, brushing back silver strands so that he can actually see. They even had the same exact hair color! They must've been twins or something...

"That's a peace sign, check it." Jolie held up her hand, but only two fingers. "It's just a friendly pose, I guess! It becomes a reflex of mine nowadays--"

She was interrupted by a giggle itching up her throat, Jakob was now trying to mimic a peace sign and it wasn't working out in his favor. "H-Here, let me help," Jolie then took his hand again and fixed it where he held up two fingers, "There you go, now you're doing it properly!" After she let go, Jakob started to practice doing it on his own, and watching him just made Jolie's blush worse. It should be illegal to be this adorable!

"Neat..." Jakob cooed, still practicing the small sign. A chirp of surprise squeaked from the merman when Jolie flopped over on his tail. It didn't hurt, it just surprised him is all! She really didn't mind closeness, did she?

"Well, let's see... I like to draw and write," Jolie started to list things she did, knowing Jakob wouldn't have a clue what she was talking about. "Oh! I can make music, I play this neat little thing called a ukulele! Remind me some day, and I'll bring it to play a song for you."

Jakob forced a smile, " That's nice and all, but I have no idea what music is..."

Ah, she saw that reply coming from miles away. "Well, it's like sounds put together to make something that sounds pretty. Which is what an instrument does, a ukulele is an instrument." Jakob's nodding along as if he understood made her have to take a moment before continuing on, "I guess you don't know about drawing or writing either... Drawing is where you use this thing called a pencil to illustrate what you imagine or see, and writing is illustrating what words you think of!"

"Can you teach me how to do those things?"

This was too much! Jolie's heart was going to shatter from sweetness! "Of course, I'd be happy too!"

Chattering could be heard all along the beach as they continued their conversations, laughing at each other or with each other. They were an awfully loud bunch! With the merman's odd accent and the girl's naturally loud voice, it's no wonder someone hadn't heard them yet! Alas, they were getting tired, and even if they were both night owls, neither of them had things to do tomorrow, a good night's rest would be a treasure!

A quiet yawn came from Jolie as she tried to clamp a hand over her mouth. "Aw man, I should go to sleep," she pouted, scolding her body for being weak and needing rest. Pushing down on the rock beneath them, she started to lazily get up, "I'll be moving over to my spot, good night, Jakob!--"

"Actually," Jakob spoke up, poking Jolie on the shoulder to make her cease getting up. Goodness, how would he word this with those brown eyes staring straight into his soul. "Uh, it's not weird for humans to sleep beside their friends, right?"

Contemplation ran over her face in the split second she thought to herself, that was tough to answer... It would depend! Jolie didn't really care though, sleep was sleep. With or without friends. "Well, you aren't human, are ya? If you want me to sleep over here I can!"

"It would make me feel better," Jakob sheepishly uttered, violet eyes trailed away to look at the waters below. Thank goodness the tide had morals at night... Else they'd be washed away in their sleep!

She didn't reply, Jolie just flopped back down on the part of his tail that she claimed in the name of herself. Jakob started to bid her good night, only to realize she already had her eyes shut and was likewise falling asleep. He panicked, aren't humans supposed to go to sleep under blankets? Oh no! She forgot her blanket! It was all the way on the other side of the rock where she usually slept, and if Jakob got up, he would wake her up again.

Nail biting came into play as Jakob panicked, what would he do? Could they share the blanket she gave him? Was it big enough for two? He didn't really need it tonight... Hm... Ideas, ideas! In the end, he did throw the blanket over Jolie, most of it covered her and his tail. He was content with being outside of the warmth as long as she was okay. Steadily he folded his arms into a pillow and laid his head down, eyes staring on at the sleeping girl's face.

She was peaceful, with a smile curved on her pink lips. In turn the smile reflected onto Jakob, he was happy to help her in anyway he could. It was just being a good friend, right?... He wasn't too sure...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they're such nerds aren't they? I'm hoping this isnt too slow or too fast, I've always been awful at pacing!  
> Looking forward to writing future chapters tho!


	4. Taken Away to the Dark Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Too much trust, too little time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey it's been a while! Sorry for not updating in about, over a year? My memory is terrible--
> 
> I'm dearly sorry if you've been waiting so long for me to update! But I'm back in action and super inspired, so I'm hoping to get this show rolling!

The past week rolled by so fast the pair nearly missed it. Jolie had been showing Jakob the world at this point, or at least little bits of it. Every morning she'd jog into the small city and find her brother; Jolie would then return with a new treat every day. One day was a soft drink, which made Jakob sneeze and he declared that soda was awful. The next day she brought candy called gummy worms, confirming stereotypes on catching a mermaid with bait. Today, Jolie brought coffee and a strange object called a doughnut.

"I like it, it's cute," Jakob hummed, noting the small dessert's pink icing and different colored sprinkles. "I don't think I can eat it..."

Jolie rolled her eyes, "I think you'll make it! Just give it a nibble."

He scoffed, "That's not my problem! I just don't want to ruin how perfect it looks-- Jolie!" The little nuisance of a human reached over, stole his treat, and took a bite out of it! "No! Now it's ruined with Jolie germs," Jakob weeped, such a beautiful creation, ruined! How could she?!

"Oh, chin up. I'll let you have a bite of mine as payback," Jolie offered, for Jakob to only refuse and sadly eat the remains of the once beautiful pastry. Jolie's shoulders sagged, she raised an eyebrow at the pitiful display in front of her, "Alright, suit yourself..."

 

Jolie continued bringing what she could that she knew tasted edible. Sometimes Jakob hated it, sometimes he loved it. Constantly she'd nag that same phrase as before, that he shouldn't knock it until he tried it. Jakob commented that he probably had that phrase burned into ear fins at this point from her constant reminders. Jolie wasn't sure to take that as an insult or a victory on her part.

The afternoon's sunlight glazed across the ocean waves, Jakob had fallen asleep and left Jolie to her own deeds. The girl sat with her legs crossed and a pencil in hand, sketching lines across papers in her sketchbook. Lead curved in circles as she doodled small cartoon-like doodles, she'd bite the pencil's eraser as she tried to find inspiration; then she would gag from how disgusting erasers actually tasted.

Spitting a few times from the vile taste, Jolie continued to pout... Until her brown eyes looked up to see sunlight reflecting off a certain someone's silver hair, she could draw Jakob! Why didn't she think of that sooner? Right away she began to sketch her companion, busily sketching him while looking up and down constantly. She felt her neck starting to hurt from such a repetitive motion. It'd all be worth it in the end!

Hours passed as eraser shavings were swept from her pages. The sun continued its journey across the endless sky. Eventually, curious, purple eyes pried open to find her looking directly at him. Jakob's ears flattened in annoyance, his teeth allowed a grumble to escape his mouth, "What are you looking at?"

"You, who else?" Jolie replied, her brown eyes snapped back to her art piece as she highlighted here and there, everywhere. "While you took a nap, I decided to try and draw you. Wanna see?"

He still had no idea what drawing exactly meant, curiosity would kill the merman, "Sure?" He replied, almost unsure as he pushed himself up and slithered over to Jolie's side. His eyes widened as soon as he saw what she'd done, "This is what a drawing is?"

"Yep!" She replied enthusiastically, running her fingertips over it to smudge some places in order to further deepen the shading, "Maybe not so accurate, but I tried!"

"I think it looks nice," Jakob nodded, still examining all the detail. She really put a lot of effort into this, didn't she? He mumbled aloud, "Is that really what I look like asleep?..."

Jolie laughed at his wondering, "Probably not, my style isn't as realistic as what my job expected... I suppose I should be thankful I was fired!"

Jakob looked befuddled, wasn't being jobless a bad thing? "Um, didn't you tell me if you get fired from a job you don't have a way of getting things anymore? Why would you be thankful for that?"

Shoulders shrugged automatically, "It's not so bad, I guess. If I had a job, I wouldn't have met you."

His head shook in protest, no! Who cares about him?! Jolie could die any day from starvation or illness, a job could help prevent it! What could Jakob do? Nothing. He opened his mouth to protest, but Jolie's eyes were so sharply glued to the portrait in front of her. Jakob sighed, she was stubborn even when she didn't try to be... The merman leaned over on her shoulder, watching intently as she worked.

A small sigh pried from the merman's lips, "If you say so..."

 

 

Today, Jolie brought her weird little instrument called a ukulele. At first, it frightened Jakob, it looked like a large piece of driftwood decorated with weird little colors. Jolie explained the colors were these things called 'stickers' and that she had a small obsession with collecting them. That didn't stop Jakob from sticking his tongue out in disgust at the tiny decorations.

"You keep making faces and I'll take one of these off and stick it on your face!" Jolie jokingly threatened, pointing an accusing finger at the merman. Jakob backed away and held his hands up, surrendering to the menace. She could tell he was forcing down a mischievous little smirk.

Fingers ran across the instrument's little strings as Jolie tested the water. She'd turn things here and strum strings there, eventually Jolie declared it was good enough, then cleared her throat.

One hand flew over the four strings while the other busily picked them, with sounds of different pitches dancing in a pattern. Jolie began to harmonize, her voice never wavering as she sweetly sung. "Wave after wave, drifting away with my heart," Jolie crooned, making up lyrics on the spot. "Sunrise til sunset my dear, your colors so vibrant, so close in alignment..."

Ears twitched as Jakob tilted his head to listen, he never knew her voice could sound even more wonderful than usual. An urge pooled within him to sing with her, but he had no idea how to do so. She seemed to be rhyming with simple words, maybe?... His eyes fell to the stone beneath them as he spoke out of the corner of his mouth, "To swim beneath the deep blue sky," Jakob hummed to himself, jumping out of his skin when Jolie suddenly changed the tune of the song to fit his words. He looked up, violet and brown met for the thousandth time.

"Go on, give it a try. Take my hand, show me how its done," Jolie encouragingly cooed, she waited patiently for what tempo to use when he drabbled, "Don't be shy, no need to cry, give it a try!"

How did she do that so well? Jakob was stunned with how she just came up with these lines so fast. "My world was turned around, my heart is homebound," he tried, his eyes lit up at how well his words mixed with Jolie's music.

She seemed so laidback and carefree with the sunlight reflecting off her bright red hair, had this been the happiest he'd ever seen her? Jolie grinned a lot, but never this brightly... Her voice then rang once more as she began to ramble, " I see you clearly so dearly, a gift given in surprise. We're two of a kind, two in a pair," Jakob couldn't harmonize quite like she could, but that fact didn't seem to be bothering Jolie.

"Together, we sound perfect. Alone, what would we be? Nothing? Anything? Everything?" Jolie dragged out each word along with her music, fingers strumming strings ever slowly, "So that's why I have to ask, are you with me?"

It seemed the song had finished, and Jakob had a strong urge to say he was with her, but didn't. Instead he mimicked what she had done previously, clapping in applause. Jolie looked amazed with his action, a smile sheepishly forming. She scratched the back of her head and looked away, "Aw, it wasn't that great..."

A stout 'Psh!' came from the merman, "You and your doubt, I thought you sounded splendid!"

She blushed, "You were...listening to my voice and not the music?..."

Jakob suddenly went into panic mode, he could've worded that better! "No, no! I mean, I listened to both, it's just-- You sound wonderful, deal with it!" He argued, folding his arms and stubbornly looking her in the eye as if he'd argue with her more.

Jolie snorted with her usual wide grin, laughter hiccuping from her. She laid her ukulele down and stifled her laughter with a curled fist, Jakob watched her actions and felt his heart skip a beat. Everything about her was just so... well, wonderful! Minus her constant teasing and hardheadedness of course, Jakob wasn't about to ignore that, it was practically impossible to ignore!

 

This morning, Jolie planned a little activity once she got back from her seeing her brother. Footsteps littered the shore from where Jolie ran up and down the sandy beach, desperately bidding Jakob to jump off the rock and swim beside her. "Come on! We can't walk together, but this could substitute!" she called, waving her hands and jumping up and down to catch his attention. Was he ignoring her?! She'd have to nag at him about how rude that was later!

An overly exaggerated yawn called from their giant boulder, "I just woke up!" Jakob snarled, dragging himself to the edge of the stone. How was she so energetic every morning? He hated mornings! If she asked to do this during the afternoon, he'd probably be on board with the idea. But at the crack of dawn?!

"Don't care! Ya gotta get your exercise in, else you'll become a chubby merman from eating so much junk food!" Jolie taunted, jogging in place as she coached the lazy lump of silver to get up and enjoy the morning air. Or water, for him.

"What's wrong with being chubby?" Jakob grumbled, being chubby kept you warm and Jakob was always cold... Maybe he should invest in doing that soon--

"Get that look off your face, mister! Being my friend means being exercise partners; I'll race you to the end of the beach, winner gets a doughnut with no bite marks in it!"

And Jakob was off that rock before Jolie could even think about snapping her fingers. Water practically shot up as Jakob darted through the ocean's crashing waves, unphased. Jolie was so shocked by his sudden speed that she didn't realize how behind in the race she was! "H-Hey! I didn't say go yet, Jakob, you cheater!"

Her feet speedily cut through the sands of the beach as she powered down the shore. Determination aglow in her eyes to win that doughnut away from Jakob. Even if he agreed to stay in shape with this race, he didn't need any more sugar. It would set his natural diet all out of wack with weird people food. This had been on the girl's mind for quite some time now, but she didn't know how to bring it up with the man. He had a horrible habit of napping as of late...

As her feet sore across the sand, Jolie watched as Jakob crashed through the waves with mighty force. It was almost as if a shark had come close to the land just to chase after a fish. Instead, it was a merman chasing after a doughnut, how peculiar... The finish line was approaching, Jakob has most definitely won this war. She wasn't giving up! She had to get ahead, or at least at the end of his tail.

"I'm not giving up, Jakob!" Jolie shouted over the great splashes of the shoreline and Jakob's strengthened movement. There was no response from the silver-haired brat, infuriating Jolie just a bit. She sucked in another gasp of air and tried once more, "I said..." Gods her lungs felt like they were going to collapse, "I'm not giving up, J--"

Suddenly a ferocious pain shredded through her leg, instead of her friend's name, Jolie shouted in pain. Tumbling into the sand, Jolie fell flat on her stomach. Suddenly the pale ground had a different color, the air smelled of iron and the coloration darkened to a crimson red. A sharp pain came from her calf, almost as if she were stung by a mutated bee. 

Jakob stopped in his tracks, the loud crashing of his swim ceased as a familiar scent made his nostrils flare. Human blood, mermaid tracks. Within the blink of an eye, he whipped around and darted back to his friend. She laid there on the beach, clutching her leg and trying to stop the bleeding. On the shoreline in front of her, a mermaid approached. Jakob's brows furrowed and his true teeth showed. He felt the claws at his fingertips itching for the feeling of severing flesh.

Jolie heard the crashing of his waves, was he here to mock her for losing? She'd mock herself, too. She felt hot tears welling in her eyes as the pain's sting intensified. What in the hell kind of bee stung her?! Prying her eyes open, she looked down at her leg, soaked in blood and dirty with sand. A dagger was jabbed into her skin, then she heard a loud hissing from the ocean. Her brown eyes immediately darted up, meeting with cold, dead, black eyes and a pale face. Dark blue hair dangled from the mermaids face, its mouth was torn with jagged teeth to match its horrid appearance. Black claws sunk into the sand as it began to crawl towards Jolie, the girl tried to move but could barely muster a single scoot. Her legs felt paralyzed as well as her abdomen, was that dagger coated in some kind of icky poison?

Then the mermaid was torn away from her vision as Jakob tackled into the feral creature. Snarling like a vicious animal, her friend transformed into a creature out of a child's nightmare. His teeth sunk into the flesh of the approaching mermaid and ripped a large gash into its shoulder. His claws scratched and tore into the mermaid's body, until finally a whine of defeat rose from the squabbling. The mermaid twisted and turned in attempts to escape his grasp, and finally detached itself from Jakob's grip. The monster flicked its tail so powerfully it knocked Jakob down into the shallow water and the mermaid vanished just as quickly as it first surfaced...

Jolie's eyes were wide with fear, any words that she tried to muster only died on her lips. Her hands were trembling, she no longer felt the sheer pain in her legs. All she felt was fear, all those stories of merfolk were true. While they were majestic, they were cold-hearted killers. Jakob was no exception. Then said merman rose from the waters, black blood trickled from his lips and dripped from his chin. Jolie once again tried to scoot away, but found herself stuck in place. Jakob then wiped the oozing liquid from his face and started to swim towards the shore. Merfolk couldn't go on land could they?

She wasn't very far from the water, even then Jakob's tail was lengthy. The merman now towered over her, clawed fingers rested at the wound on her leg. Jolie flinched as if it hurt, but felt nothing. Her entire body felt numb and the world felt as if it were spinning. Jakob's other hand lifted her chin to make her look at him. A faint tinge of red danced in the violet hues of his eyes. That same feeling of fear stung Jolie's heart, she wanted to tear herself away. He murmured to himself something strange... Jolie could barely make out the words, "Myrai Poison".

"You..." Fuck, she couldn't even speak correctly. "You're not going, to kill me are you?" It took her a moment to long to process such simple words. Her brain tongue felt like goo, this was awful... How does one even make a poison that makes you feel like the world is falling apart beneath your feet?

He was terrifying up close... At least, like this, Jakob looked like a creature of the deep. His claws were sharper all of a sudden, how hadn't she noticed them? His gills were flared and his teeth were like knives. His eyes were usually a beautiful violet, now they were a thirsty red. His voice had even changed... It wasn't that every day fake anger that Jolie had witnessed before, this was the voice of an enraged guardian. Was he her guardian all of a sudden? Her life had been looking up since the day she found him.

"No! Why would I ever do such a thing?" Jakob's voice now wavered as he frantically inspected her wound. The knife was deep, too deep for him to remove while she was conscious. He had to gather the medicines necessary to perform removal and everything. Damn Myrai... There was so much to the people of his world that he wanted to protect Jolie from. Common sense shouldn't predicted this to happen. The scent of himself and a human would attract further predators. Especially since that one turned tail and bailed the second it was faced with combat...

He needed to tell her the truth. The full truth, not just pieces.

"Jolie, I'm going to need you to trust me. I know it's hard to listen right now, but I'm going to put you to sleep, okay?" Jakob met her eyes once more, they were glossed with drugged fear. Those beautiful brown eyes never looked so afraid, he wished he could hear what she was thinking.

"Don't hurt me." Those words felt so harsh and so heartbreaking to hear. Jolie had done nothing but trust him, now she's seen his true colors show. Now her voice faltered with that trust... She nodded into his hand and shut her eyes, holding as still as possible.

Jakob let out a sigh of relief, at least she agreed... He then traced his thumb across her cheek, imbuing a type of his own magic within his touch. Some merfolk used poison, others used a type of sleeping magic. Usually he only used this on food, but while Jolie was numb now, the second he removes the dagger, all the pain comes flooding back at once. That's just how Myrai poison worked, Jakob had witnessed the strength of their work before.

He clutched his shoulder, tracing his fingers across the scar. Why? Why did she have to be the victim? Jakob would've healed much faster if it were him, but instead it was her...

He didn't forgive himself. He couldn't.


End file.
